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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Teak has a much different grain, almost non existent compared to Oak, had to clean a lot of it on someone elses sailboat once upon a time...Yours does resemble Oak much closer.
Nice find Leigh!
Your NOS ones look real nice.
I know that the wood grain on my 73 doors and panels looked more like the real cheap wood paneling for mobile homes from back in the 60’s.
I’m also surprised that you didn’t try to make your own!
Ah Come on guys, you know I tried to do it myself! LOL!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Bare Teek veneer left, Repop center, homemade stained veneer right. Against the nice original door panels top.
Nothing was really close enough for me, unless I made & stained all 3 pieces myself. I decided that was just too much work, then these popped up.
Done!
Even though I know you could have made them this is a good find.
It’s so great that you can still find NOS stuff popping up like this. While many of the original parts are not perfect by today’s standards the reproductions often do not come up to the originals.
Shiny new jewelery for underhood!
It's the HP one with the twin 1.25" wide tubes to keep my454 with A/C BB cool.
It is my understanding that the rad support brackets may need a slight clearancing mod to clear the larger width core?
Does that sound right?
Has anybody done this?
It's the HP one with the twin 1.25" wide tubes to keep my454 with A/C BB cool.
It is my understanding that the rad support brackets may need a slight clearancing mod to clear the larger width core?
Does that sound right?
Has anybody done this?
Mine was not the HP. But my understanding was that it was for either. I had to fuss/shape/bend the lower brackets. Maybe only a little with the uppers. My understanding is the DeWitts makes upper brackets for their radiators.
Shiny new jewelery for underhood!
It's the HP one with the twin 1.25" wide tubes to keep my454 with A/C BB cool.
It is my understanding that the rad support brackets may need a slight clearancing mod to clear the larger width core?
Does that sound right?
Has anybody done this?
Very nice!
Mine fit perfect without having to bend or modify anything.
I installed the DeWitts big block HP, 2 row radiator with the 1.25 tubes in my 73.
I did not need to bend or trim my brackets.
I did have an issue using their heavy duty rubber cushions.
I trimmed the lower set per their installation instructions and they fit without issue but the two upper rubber cushions were too thick and would not allow the upper bracket holes to align with the bolting locations on the front of the radiator support.
I swapped out the two DeWitts heavy duty upper rubber cushions with two new oem cushions and it made the alignment holes much closer.
I then swapped out the Dewitt’s lower heavy duty rubber cushions with new oem’s and using all four new oem cushions everything aligned perfectly.
Last edited by OldCarBum; Feb 2, 2026 at 12:11 AM.
I have the factory no AC 72 BB metal pressurized expansion tank on the fender, so I have no rad cap on the rad.
IIRC OCB is doing similar but running his tank un-pressurized, as just an overflow tank. But he must have a rad cap somewhere? His 73 must have it on the rad.
The 73 model year Corvettes had a radiator cap on the radiator and so do the DeWitts 73 and later model year radiators.
73’ Corvettes had a plastic non pressurized overflow reservoir which I replaced with a DeWitts early model year Corvette expansion tank.
DeWitts custom made it per my request and they offer them as a custom order that isn’t shown on their website.
The radiator cap on my radiator is pressurized however my DeWitts overflow reservoir has a non pressurized cap on it and has no pressure.
My reservoir looks exactly like an early model expansion tank but functions like a non pressurized overflow reservoir.
Heres a couple pictures.
I have finished up the measuring on the bump steer project.
And have 1 or 2 people looking into making some new parts.
More packages!
In the meantime, I decided to go with double adjustable shocks.
Then that turned into semi-coilovers for the front. To alleviate ride height / rake adjustments, as well as available spring rates.
I also got custom spring rates, and custom valved shocks.
I settled on a 450# front coil-over spring, and a 330# VBP glass spring.
A little softer than some, but I want the suspension to do the work, while not being overly stiff.
Suspension frequency is 1.4/1.6 f/r. Stiffer than a stock sprung car (1.2/1.4) but softer than the f41 (1.6/1.7) right in the middle. Hopefully it is like goldilocks and "just right"
There are three ways I am trying to improve the ride while still handling well:
Slightly softer spring rates than typical, but still keep the car balanced.
Double adjustable shocks, so I can really dial-in my preferred ride vs handling balance.
Ride oriented shock valving vs autocross oriented valving.
Only Viking offered the cruiser valving I was looking for, to relieve impact harshness.
And I can still quickly tighten it up if I want to, for the ocassional drag or autocross run.
Everything that affects driving or handling in this car is getting massaged, and made as adjustable as possible, for fine-tuning purposes.
I picked up some more jewelry for the car this week:
Now it works better and looks better!
All replated and dipped...looks much better than before.
This is the "before" cosmetics. Just as it came off the engine after the dyno run...ran very well...but old & ugly
Can you see the tuning mod I had added? Adjustable air bleeds...but nearly invisible.
An adjustable air bleed, very small hex screws, nearly invisible. Unless you look really close.
Here is my tuning kit. Darius measured all the original bleeds, and duplicated them in the screw in versions, then gave me a couple steps rich & lean for each bleed.
Darius at T4 Carbs hooked me up https://t4carburetors.com/
This is an original LS6 Holley, but an 1978 OTC one, not a rare original. For a LS6 crate motor.
I chose it because all the linkage and the jetting hooks up as stock with no fuss.
Starting with this carb got me a lot closer to ideal than starting with an out of the box Holley.
But now it is infinitely tuneable.
My dyno man said the AFR, on the Dyno, was one of the best & flattest curves he had ever seen on a Holley. At W.O.T.
But at cruise it was still a little rich, and it would really suck down some gas at cruise.
So now it has fully adjustable screw-in air bleeds, idle fuel restrictors, and power valve restrictors.
The WOT was tuned on the dyno, and I will tune the part throttle on the highway with an LM1 wideband AFR meter.
With my TKX 5spd, 70 mph cruise will be a low 2000rpm. The carb should still be on the idle transition circuit, not the main jets.
Now I can lean that idle transition circuit out a little. They were 13.2 AFR on the dyno at light load. I will be looking for at least 14.7 at cruise or even 15.5, if it will do it, without stuttering-misfiring.
That's 17% less fuel, and likely 2-3 more mpg, just from leaning it out at cruise.
This part throttle tuning can not be done on a static dyno. Maybe a drive-on version, but it would be a slow and expensive process with a carb.
I'll do it on the street.
I will not need to touch the rest of the WOT jetting. That was done on the dyno. I may need to touch up some transitions.
My ultimate goal is to get it up to at least 15, maybe 18mpg, so it is at least tolerable on a 1000 mile road trip.
2025 C3 ('68-'73) of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2024 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
VERY PRETTY....................sad, just give it 30 days of use & it will look like it did prior in no time !!! Should be Cadmium / dichromate coating, curious why is it silver ? Especially the diaphragm cover that sticks out & is most visible ?
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Last edited by 427SIXPACK; Mar 14, 2026 at 07:02 PM.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Leigh that is awesome. I did that to my tripower setup and it makes a world a difference when you have an AFR gauge to help tune. I hope you hit your 15 to 18 mpg goal. My best was 16 mpg with my Holley Qjet. That was my simpler carburation days
The only reason I bought these was because even with my offset a-arm slotted shaft mods, I was having a hard time getting over 5* caster. And even then I was maxed out on the rear alignment stud at 3/4" of shims, and none in the front, and no room left for a camber strut bracket.
So with these I easily dialed in 6* caster. I may even try 7*. Goal accomplished!
The above pic is at 6* caster and 0 camber. Plenty of adjustment length left, to change either. With zero alignment shims.
The also have a curved shape and a 1/2" taller ball joint. The above pic is at ride height.
There is 2-1/2 to 3.0" of additional travel in rebound (droop) vs stock. I am not worried about no bump stops here because the shock will top-out long before that, so the a-arms will never hit the frame.
But they go even higher than above in bump or compression direction, and I will have to check for fiberglass clearance on the inner fenders.
The 1/2" taller joint alters the angle of the upper a-arm joints, causing several suspension geometry changes. I will investigate that more closely in the next day or so.
Camber curve, front roll center and bump steer.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
